Contests

Writing contests provide steps up for a writer – especially a struggling writer. A portfolio that contains contest wins means more than many clips. Can’t afford the entry fees? Consider entering one contest a quarter or something more amiable to your pocketbook. A few are free. Contests provide prizes, prestige and usually publication with many offering book contracts. Denouncing contests from your writing repertoire is like discounting an entire genre or refusing to eat yellow vegetables. You’re giving up something valuable that may serve you and your career well.

NOTE: To have your group’s contest posted, email hope@chopeclark.com with the link to the contest. It must pay a minimum of a $200 first prize, not take all rights for entering, and charge an entry fee of five percent or less. 

THE PENN REVIEW PRIZE
https://www.pennreview.org/prizes
$10 ENTRY FEE. Deadline March 25, 2026. Please submit up to 5 poems, along with a third-person bio, through Submittable. The winner will receive $500 and print publication in The Penn Review No. 75. All poems are considered for regular publication. Please submit up to 3 fiction or creative nonfiction stories along with a third-person bio through Submittable. Each story may be up to 5000 words in length. The winner will receive $500 and print publication in The Penn Review No. 75. All stories are considered for regular publication.

THE CATERPILLAR POETRY PRIZE
https://www.themothmagazine.com/a1-page.asp?ID=9454&page=60
€16 ENTRY FEE. Deadline March 31, 2026. The Caterpillar Poetry Prize is an annual prize for  unpublished poems written by adults for children aged 7–11. 1st prize €1,000 plus a week at The Moth Retreat in Ireland. 2nd prize €500. 3rd prize €250. The winning poems will be published in the Irish Times online.

WILD LOT PRESS
https://wildlotpress.com/submissions
NO ENTRY FEE. Deadline May 31 2026. Wild Lot Press, with the assistance of the Pennsylvania Creative Entrepreneur Accelerator Program (CEAP), is publishing an illustrated nonfiction anthology book about night, with the working title Nightness: Ruminations on the Darker Side of Day. We’re looking for essays/creative nonfiction of any length, from snippets and passing anecdotes to longform opuses, that take keen interest in what happens between dusk and dawn in the wild spaces of our world, or better still, in the liminal spaces that bridge the human-centric, built world and the extra-human margins that encircle us. The winning essay will receive a prize of $250; all selected contributors will receive free copies.

THE DESPERATE LITERATURE PRIZE FOR SHORT FICTION
https://degrootfoundation.org/competitions/desperate-literature-short-fiction-prize/
€20 ENTRY FEE. Deadline April 19 2026. First Prize €2000, a week’s residency at the Civitella Ranieri Foundation, a consultation with Literary Agent Charlotte Seymour from Johnson & Alcock,  manuscript assessment with The Literary Consultancy. Runner-up Prizes €1000 (two prizes available). Shortlisted will be published in a limited edition book and launched at the Desperate Literature Short Fiction Prize Salon, Madrid. Limit 2000 words of fiction.

WRITERS ONLINE FICTION PRIZE
https://www.writers-online.co.uk/writing-competitions/writing-grand-prize-2026-win-1-000-cash
£17.50 ENTRY FEE. Deadline June 30, 2026. Win a whopping £1,000 for short fiction in any style and on any theme, up to 2,000 words.

THE HUDSON PRIZE
https://blacklawrencepress.com/submissions-and-contests/the-hudson-prize/
$30 ENTRY FEE. Deadline March 31, 2026. Prize for an unpublished collection of poems or prose (short stories or essays). Novels are not eligible for this prize. The prize is open to new, emerging, and established writers. The winner of this contest will receive book publication, a $1,000 cash award, and ten copies of the book. Prizes awarded on publication. Manuscripts should be 45-95 pages in length (poetry) or 120-280 pages in length (prose).

TOM GRASS PRIZE
https://www.tomgrassprize.com/entry-and-prizes-2026
ENTRY FEE FREE TO FFEBRUARY 28. ENTRY FEE £15 AFTER. Deadline March 31, 2026. The Tom Grass Prize is open to all writers from all over the world who are over the age of 25 and writing in the English language. Entrants must not be represented by a Literary Agent and must not have any previous or new book under contract with a mainstream publisher for the duration of the prize. The word count is between 1,500 and 3,000 words. The entry can be either fiction or non-fiction and must be a stand-alone piece of prose. Entrants are invited to reflect the spirit of adventure in subject matter and/or style in whichever way and in however broad a sense the writer interprets this. 1st prize: £1,000. Two runners-up prizes: £500 each. All three finalists will be offered a meeting with a Literary Agent.

JERBOA LIT 500 CONTEST
https://www.jerboalit.com/
$15 ENTRY FEE (AND UP). Runs March 13-15. That’s 48 hours, 500 words, and a random prompt. we want to read the weird short stories you come up with based on some fun and random conditions. After selection and announcement of the random prompt (including a story genre, an item that must be present, and a phrase that must be included, all drawn from a hat), contest entrants will have 48 hours to write a 500-word story fitting those conditions.  $1,000 first prize ($2,200 total prizes).

PLOUGHSHARES EMERGING WRITER CONTEST
https://pshares.org/submit/emerging-writers-contest/
$30 ENTRY FEE. Deadline March 31, 2026. Contest recognizes work by an emerging writer in each of three genres: fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. We consider authors “emerging” if they haven’t published or self-published a book in any of the contest genres. One winner in each genre per year will receive $2,000 and publication in Ploughshares. The winners will also receive a conversation with our partnering literary agency, Aevitas Creative Management, regarding their work and writing careers. We accept fiction and nonfiction up to 6,500 words and 3-5 pages of poetry.

WINTER BLACK FOX PRIZE FAIRY TALE REMIX
https://blackfoxlitmag.com/contests/
$12 ENTRY FEE. Deadline March 31, 2026. We are open to loose interpretations of the theme in any genre. Please submit your strongest fiction, nonfiction, or poetry, and we will choose one winner that we feel interprets the theme best. The prize is $325 and print publication in the Summer 2026 issue. All submissions are considered for print publication in the Summer 2026 issue. Submissions should be no more than 5,000 words. For poetry, send up to three poems in the same document. For flash fiction, send up to two stories in the same document.

BBC SHORT STORY AWARD
https://www.bbc.co.uk/send/u223748296
NO ENTRY FEE. Deadline March 16, 2026. The Award, now in its 21st year, is worth £15,000 and will be given to one writer demonstrating exceptional skill and artistry in the short story form. The Award is for a single story of up to 8,000 words, written by an established author. Open to published writers who are British citizens and/or resident in the UK.

WRITERS ONLINE CRIME STORY
https://www.writers-online.co.uk/writing-competitions/crime-story
£ 8.50 ENTRY FEE. Deadline March 15, 2026. 2026 marks the 50th anniversary of Agatha Christie’s death. To honour her tremendous legacy, we’re inviting entries of crime fiction in any genre, from cosy to noir, procedural to psychological suspense, between 1,500 and 1,700 words. The winner will receive £200 and publication in Writing Magazine, with £50 and publication on the website for the runner-up.

SHADY GROVE LITERARY CONTEST
https://shadygroveliterary.wixsite.com/shadygroveliterary/submissions
NO ENTRY FEE. Submissions are accepted from November 1st to October 31st for each year’s competition. 300 words maximum. One submission per competition. Any style, genre, tone, etc. of flash fiction. 1st place – $100. 2nd and 3rd places- publication online. Shady Grove Literary has readers in multiple countries, but its home is in Thousand Oaks, California.

THE GRATEFUL AMERICAN BOOK PRIZE
https://www.davidbrucesmith.com/2026-grateful-american-book-prize-call-for-submissions
NO ENTRY FEE. Deadline July 31, 2026. Accepting submissions for outstanding historical fiction, non-fiction, and biographies for readers, ages 11 to 15. Eligible books must be published between August 1, 2025, and July 31, 2026. The winner will receive a $13,000 award, a lifetime membership to The New York Historical, and a medallion designed by artist Clarice Smith. Two Honorable Mention recipients will receive $500, each, and the medallion. Self-published books do not qualify.

ALPINE FELLOWSHIP WRITING PRIZE
https://alpinefellowship.com/
£10 ENTRY FEE. Deadline to be announced. Opens January 2, 2026. Awarded for the best piece of writing on the theme TBD. The winner and runners-up will receive financial support in the following amounts: First place: £3,000, Second place: £1,000, Third place: £1,000. A maximum of 1,250 words per entry. All genres of writing are permitted, including fiction, non-fiction, and non-academic essays. Open to all nationalities.

LASCAUX PRIZE IN POETRY
https://lascauxreview.com/contests/
$15 ENTRY FEE. Deadline March 31, 2026. Poems may be previously published or unpublished, and simultaneous submissions are accepted. Winner receives $1,000, a bronze medallion, and publication in The Lascaux Review. All entries are considered for publication. There are no length restrictions. All genres and styles are welcome.

FURIOUS FICTION
https://www.writerscentre.com.au/furious-fiction/
NO ENTRY FEE. Deadline first Friday of each month. A monthly short story challenge from the Australian Writers’ Centre. On the FIRST FRIDAY OF THE MONTH, we will unveil a new story challenge. You then have 55 hours and a maximum of 500 words to wow us with your storytelling skills. Prize is $500 AU.

JOHN UPDIKE REVIEW EMERGING WRITERS PRIZE
https://blogs.iwu.edu/johnupdikesociety/the-jur-emerging-writers-prize/
NO ENTRY FEE. Rolling deadline. A $1000 prize plus publication in The John Updike Review, awarded annually to writers 40 years of age or younger. The writing may be scholarly or bellestristic in nature. Academics, critics, graduate students, assistant professors, novelists, poets, and short story writers are encouraged to submit 10-30 page essays. Submissions are open and rolling.

NOTE: See more contests by joining our newsletters. We can keep you loaded with contests without you looking anywhere else!

Our newsletters…
Please remember to read ALL guidelines for a contest. FundsforWriters tries to research contests to the best of our ability, but we cannot confirm the credibility of each and every one without entering them ourselves. Be informed and be alert as you would with any market, publisher, agent or competition.

Testimonials

Dear Hope, The Emerald Theatre Company’s 10-minute play fest is going into its second year. Without you, and FundsforWriters, the first year might not have been possible. Thanks to the publicity from your newsletter, our little Memphis, Tennessee event received scripts from Arizona, California, Delaware, Florida, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Montana, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Vermont, West Virginia, Wyoming, the UK and New Zealand.

This wealth of wonderful material yielded quality vignettes that made the best local actors and stage directors (including a popular local radio personality) eager to donate their time and talent – their presence, in turn, sold tickets. We played to packed houses and everyone had a great time. To our astonishment, Vermont Pride Theatre got wind of the show and asked to put it on in its entirety this coming July – meaning the playwrights who won prizes and recognition in our fest, will now receive additional recognition along with royalties.

The bottom line is, without you, we would have had something rinky dink – with you we had something substantial. The publicity you provided on the front end made all the difference in the world!  ~Caroline Sposto, www.whycaroline.com, (610) 597-9803

 

Hi Hope, we met at the SCWW conference in Myrtle Beach last October, and I was so impressed with your lecture that I subscribed to FFW as soon as I got home. I wanted to drop you a line to let you know that because of FFW, I submitted AND WON The 2008 William F. Deeck-Malice Domestic Grant for Unpublished Writers! My novel will be finished this week, and next weekend I’m going to Malice Domestic to accept the award. Thanks you, and keep up the great work.